Three Oregon Football Commits Land on SI99 Recruiting Rankings for 2023 Class
Sports Illustrated released a new iteration of their yearly high school football prospect rankings, the SI99, on Tuesday.
Each year before the high school and college football seasons get underway, Sports Illustrated ranks the 99 best football prospects for the upcoming recruiting class -- organizing the list "based on their collegiate potential exclusively."
The Oregon Ducks football program was well represented on this year's SI99 list, with three prospects making the cut. It's a huge step up for Oregon, who had their lone Class of 2022 SI99 commit Tetairoa McMillan de-commit and stay in the Pac-12 to play at the University of Arizona.
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The best part of this year's SI99 for the Ducks is seeing their latest quarterback commit, Dante Moore ranked as the number one recruit in the 2023 class.
Moore has been having a summer to remember, competing in multiple showcases across the country and flying up recruiting rankings as a result. Sports Illustrated, in particular, has noticed Moore's improvement -- declaring Moore the number one player in the class a day before the SI99 list was released, and awarding Moore the SI Elite 11 Finals MVP back in June.
Ever since Moore's summer performances and his commitment to Oregon on July 8, there has been shake-up among recruiting rankings. Longtime number one prospect and Texas quarterback commit Arch Manning came in at number 10 on the SI99 -- rating him as the fifth-best QB in the class of 2023.
The Ducks' new coaching staff has shown terrific insight in their first recruiting cycle. Dan Lanning and his staff joined the Ducks when many 2022 recruits were signing their national letters of intent, but he made up for it by pursuing and hosting players that were underrated by the major recruiting services.
The best example of this is Jurrion Dickey.
A wide receiver from Northern California, Dickey earned the number 46 spot on the SI99 list. Since his commitment to the Ducks, Dickey has evolved into a five-star recruit and someone who could be the top wide receiver recruit in the 2023 class.
When Oregon found Dickey, he was under the radar. That is no longer the case. Dickey has since transferred to the legendary Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California.
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Also, much to the dismay of Ducks fans, Dickey has been reeling in the college offers since receiving his fifth star. More big name programs like Georgia, Miami and Texas A&M have all offered Dickey in recent weeks.
The last Oregon recruit on this year's SI99 for Oregon is another wide receiver, Ashton Cozart. Cozart, a 6-foot-3.5 and 193-pound receiver from Flower Mound, Texas, came in at number 94 on this year's SI99.
Cozart was originally set to play for the Oklahoma Sooners, but flipped his commitment to the Ducks on May 22. Cozart and Dickey's commitments show a continued interest in elite wide receivers for the Ducks-- a trend started by Bryan McClendon and continued by new wide receivers coach Junior Adams.
Oregon's dedication to pursuing elite offensive recruits, especially in the passing game, shows the start of a new era in Eugene.
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